Rights of persons with disabilities

Persons with disability are most neglected lot not only in the society but also in the family. It is unfortunate that till 2001-Census no serious effort was made in India even to know the number of persons suffering from disability. As per an estimate of the World Health Organisation, ten percent of the World's population suffers from one or other disabilities and almost one fifth of the disabled persons of the world lives in India. A country-wide survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reveals that in 1991, 16.5 million persons i.e., 1.9 percent of the country's population suffers from one or the other kind of disability. These figures only cover persons suffering from one of the four types of physical disabilities, namely, visual, speech, hearing and locomotive. It does not, however, cover the mentally handicapped persons. The mentally handicapped constitute two to five percent of the total population of the country. This is an alarming situation. In India major causes of disability are due to poor nutrition, communicable diseases. infections in early childhood and accidents at home and at work. Nutritional deficiencies, inadequate sanitation, insufficient or inaccessible health care services, accidents and injuries from poorly designed equipments and the practices like consanguineous marriages have all contributed to high prevalence of disabilities.

The international community debated the rights of persons with disabilities with concern since the inception of the United Nations. It was only in 1971 that the UN made concerted efforts for the first time and recognizing the need for adopting a Declaration on the Rights of the Mentally Retarded Persons. This has further led to the adoption of a detailed Declaration on the "Rights of the Disabled Persons" by the United Nations in 1975.
The adoption of these declarations and the concern shown by the international community had a steady impact on the Indian Government which was very receptive to international developments. The Government has taken several legislative and administrative measures for the persons with disabilities in the areas of employment, education, travel etc. For the first time in 1987, the Government of India enacted the Mental Health Act exclusively to deal with the mentally retarded persons. The Persons with Disabilities (Protection of Rights, Equal Opportunities and Full Participation) Act, was enacted in 1995 because of its limited scope and certain other lacunaes in its implementation, the Act is under amendment.